Spicy Crab with Cucumber and Cream Cheese with Masago on Top

American’s love sushi; sushi restaurants are popping up all over major cities, from the chic fusion style restaurants, to the traditional gourmet. My personal favorite is American style sushi, including this fantastic recipe for Spicy Crab Cream Cheese and Cucumber Sushi Roll with Masago, and after years of eating it I decided to teach myself how to make sushi at home and now I want to teach you. This recipe is so simple that even the most unseasoned home cook can appear to be a sushi maker. Wow your friends and family with this easy and delicious recipe that bursts in your mouth with a creamy, crunchy, and savory mix of flavors.

Spicy Crab Cream Cheese and Cucumber Sushi Roll with Masago

Place your sushi mat inside of the gallon sized freezer bag, this prevents the rice from sticking to your mat and makes it easier to roll up the sushi. Lay the freezer bag covered sushi mat out on the table in front of you. Place the ½ piece of nori Seaweed onto the mat and with wet hands spread a handful of sushi rice over the top of the nori seaweed, making sure to get rice out to the edges pressing it gently but firmly onto the nori seaweed. Spoon the masago across the entire surface area of the rice. You can add the Masago as thickly as you want. I love Masago on my American sushi roll, and sometimes go a little crazy with it, but it adds such a wonderful flavor. Gently press the masago into the rice then flip the seaweed, rice and masago over so that the masago is now on the bottom. Place a strip of cream cheese in the roll, using the cream cheese in the rolls adds a nice creamy texture that combines well with the spicy crab. Add the cucumber strips, one on either side of the cream cheese. Next we take the spicy crab and spread it on top of the cucumber and cream cheese, making sure not to overfill the sushi roll (How to make spicy crab recipe). Remember that you can always add more heat once the roll is completed by providing some wasabi to dip the sushi roll into.

Presentation Tip: For a beautiful presentation make sure that the cream cheese is placed down the center of the seaweed with the cucumber slices on either side, and the spicy crab on top of the seaweed this is prior to rolling the sushi roll.

Time to Roll:

Grabbing the portion of the sushi mat closest to you, roll it over the top of the sushi filling to compact it into one solid roll, press it down, and quickly reroll, making sure that the two ends of the seaweed (that closest to you and furthest away from you) are touching so that they seal together. Notice how the Masago completely covers the outside of the sushi roll, giving it a stunning presentation. Add some Masago, sesame seeds, or avocado to your roll if you skipped that step above, or just want some additional topping. Using a wet serrated knife cut the roll in half, and then each side in half again and again until you have eight equal pieces of sushi. Arrange with the filling showing on an ornamental plate so that it is pleasing to the eye. If you are planning on having guests for dinner or cocktails this will make an excellent presentation. It looks as though you worked all day in the kitchen to make the perfect sushi, when in fact it only took you minutes! These tasty Sushi rolls can be finished off with some wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger. Enjoy!